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Friday, 30 December 2011

Cardinal Ranjith calls for return of Vetus Ordo

NLM has published the text of a letter written by Cardinal Ranjith to the General Assembly of the International Federation Una Voce in which His Eminence invites us to encourage the return of the older form of the Roman Rite as a part of the renewal of the Church desired by the Fathers of Vatican II:

Liturgy for this reason can never be what man creates. For if we worship the way we want and fix the rules ourselves, then we run the risk of recreating Aaron's golden calf. We ought to constantly insist on worship as participation in what God Himself does, else we run the risk of engaging in idolatry. Liturgical symbolism helps us to rise above what is human to what is divine. In this, it is my firm conviction that the Vetus Ordo represents to a great extent and in the most fulfilling way that mystical and transcendent call to an encounter with God in the liturgy. Hence the time has come for us to not only renew through radical changes the content of the new Liturgy, but also to encourage more and more a return of the Vetus Ordo, as a way for a true renewal of the Church, which was what the Fathers of the Church seated in the Second Vatican Council so desired.

I heartily agree that the old Roman rite represents the most fulfilling way in which we can encounter God in the liturgy. It is good to hear a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church affirm this so straightforwardly.

I wish our beloved Pope Benedict XVI many years and even more years; but when God eventually calls him home, it would be a fitting counterpoint to the jubilation of his own election if it were announced from the balcony of St Peter's "... Habemus Papam! Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum, Dominum Malcolm, Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem RANJITH! ..."